Decade-Long Wait Nears End: NSE gets Sebi nod for Rs 30,000-cr IPO

New Delhi: The National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE) has received regulatory approval for its long-awaited Rs 30,000-crore initial public offering (IPO), potentially making it the biggest-ever public issue in India.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) issued its observation letter on Friday, clearing the world's largest derivatives exchange to proceed with the IPO. The proposed offering of up to 14.89 crore shares, or roughly 6 per cent of NSE's paid-up capital, will be entirely an offer for sale (OFS) by existing shareholders.

If launched at the expected size, the NSE issue will surpass Hyundai Motor India's Rs 27,858.75-crore IPO in 2024 and LIC's Rs 20,557.23-crore offering in 2022. It will also be larger than Paytm's Rs 18,300 crore, Tata Capital's Rs 15,511.87 crore and Coal India's Rs 15,200 crore issues.

The exchange is expected to announce the IPO price band and other details next week. Sources said the issue could open around September 15, with listing targeted for September 24-25. The issue is expected to value NSE at more than Rs 5 lakh crore, placing it among India's 10 most valuable companies by market capitalisation.

NSE's IPO has been nearly a decade in the making. It first filed draft offer documents in 2016, but its listing plans were repeatedly delayed amid regulatory scrutiny over the co-location controversy and related governance issues. NSE subsequently sought Sebi's no-objection certificate several times before receiving it earlier this year.

The latest Sebi clearance follows significant progress on the long-running co-location and dark-fibre matters. NSE paid Rs 714.74 crore to Sebi in July, completing a cumulative settlement of Rs 1,491.21 crore after accounting for Rs 776.47 crore already deposited.

NSE filed its latest draft red herring prospectus with Sebi on June 17. The issue was initially proposed at around Rs 10,000 crore in 2016, but the size has since increased substantially as the exchange's valuation and shareholder holdings evolved. State Bank of India will offload up to 2.48 crore shares, while MS Strategic (Mauritius) Ltd will sell 1.60 crore shares.

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The Hans India